Influence of Family Worship on Children (2)

The filial affections are molded by family worship. The child beholds the parent in a peculiar relation. Nowhere is the Christian father so venerable as where he leads his house in prayer. The tenderness of love is hallowed by the sanctity of reverence. A chastened awe is thrown about the familiar form, and parental dignity assumes a new and sacred aspect. There is surely nothing unnatural in the supposition that a froward child shall find it less easy to rebel against the rule of one whom he daily contemplates in an act of devotion. The children look more deeply into the parents’ heart by the medium of family prayer. A single burst of genuine fatherly anxiety in the midst of ardent intercession may speak to the child a volume of long-hidden and travailing grief and love. Such words, uttered on the knees, though from the plain untutored man, are sometimes as arrows in the heart of unconverted youth. The child is forced to say within himself, “How can I offend against the father who daily wrestles with God in my behalf? How can I be careless about the soul, for which he is thus concerned?” And often when separated from the domestic circle, has the wanderer bethought himself, “My father and mother are now praying to Cod for their boy!” He is little read in the human heart who fails to recognize here a great element of filial piety, or who refuses to believe that the tenderness of a child’s attachment is increased by the stated worship of the household.

There is a kindred influence upon fraternal affection. Praying together is a certain means of attachment; those who pray for one another cannot but love. Think of it, and confess how impossible it is for sons and daughters, every day, during all the sunny years of youth, to bow down side by side in common devotions and mutual intercessions, without feeling that their affection is rendered closer and holier by the very act. Brothers and sisters who have thus been led together to the throne of grace from infancy, are linked by ties unknown to the rest of the world. But the topic merits a separate discussion.

Delightful as is the syllable home, it is made tenfold more so by prayer. The ancient lares, or “gods of the house,” were cherished, and their altar was the domestic hearth. They were vanity and a lie: “but our God is in the heavens” (Ps. 115:3). The house of our childhood is always lovely, but the presence of the Almighty Protector makes it a sanctuary, and His altar causes home to be doubly home. However long we live, or however far we wander, it will ever abide in memory as the place of prayer, the cradle of our childlike devotions, the circle which enclosed father, and mother, and sister, and brother, in its sacred limit. Now that which adds to the charm and the influence of home affords a mighty check to evil. To make a child love his home, is to secure him against a thousand temptations. Families who live without Cod forego all such advantages and recollections. The domestic fireside no doubt has its charms, but it is shorn of its religious associations; it is less revered; we believe it is less loved.

In families where there is daily praise of Cod, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, there is an additional influence on the young. At no age are we more impressed by music, and no music is so impressive as that which is the vehicle of devotion. The little imitative creatures begin to catch the melodies long before they can understand the words. Without any exception they are delighted with this part of the service, and their proficiency is easy in proportion. No choir can be compared with that of a goodly household, where old and young, day after day, and year after year, lift up the voice in harmony. Such strains give a jocund opening to the day, and cheer the harassed mind after labor is done. Sacred song tranquillizes and softens the mind, makes an opening for higher influences, and prepares voice and heart for the public praise of God. The practice is the more important, as it is well known that in order to attain its perfection, the voice should be cultivated from an early age. Nor should we omit to mention the store of psalms and hymns which are thus treasured in the memory. By this it is, even more that by public worship, that the Scottish peasantry to so great an extent have the old version of the Psalms by rote, in great part or in whole.

The house of our childhood is always lovely, but the presence of the Almighty Protector makes it a sanctuary, and His altar causes home to be doubly home.

Dr. James W. Alexander (1804-185% eldest son of the renowned Archibald Alexander, wrote many volumes on practical Christian themes, including Plain Words to a Young Communicant (1854) and Thoughts on Preaching (1864). This article is drawn from his Thoughts on Family Worship (1847).

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